Grating for structural purposes.



N. BERSON.

GRATING FOR STRUCTURAL PURPOSES.

APPLICATION FILED APR.Z1| |911- rfr Y Patented Apr. 30, 1918.

To all whom t may concern.'

NAM BERSON, 4CDF NEW YRK, N. Y., SSTG'NOR T0 IRWIN@ 0N WORKS CU., 0FLONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 0F NEW7` YORK.

@RATING FOR STRUCTURAL PURPOSES.

Spcification of Letters Patent.

- Patented npr. 3d, T918,

Applicationzled 'April 2.1, 1917. Serial No. 163,717.

Be it known that ll, NATHAN merly a subject of the Czar of Russia, buthaving taken out first naturalization papers in the United States,residing at'New York city,fborough of Manhattan, county and.l StateofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in'Gratings for Structural Purposes, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to metal gratings used to cover openings in floors,sidewalks, ship decks and so forth, to form runways and for otherstructural purposes. main object of my invention is to produce a a'grating of this character which can be as- .sembled and held togetherwithoutuse of rivets or other fastening than the interlocking or keyingaction of the parts of the grating itself, and which shall at the same.time be rigid and present great resist-ance to all strains tending toproduce distortion. The best form of apparatus at present known to meembodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying sheet ofdrawings in which- Fi e 1 is a plan view of a small grating showing allthe features of the preferred form of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line 2 2 of Fig. l, looking in thedirection of the.

arrows.

f Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of one of the reticulated or bentcross strips, and Fig. 4 is a perspective showing the parts detached.

Throughout the drawingslike reference characters indicate like parts.

1, 1, represent a series of straight or substantially straightsupporting bars which are arranged on edge to serve as girderssupporting the weight placed upon the grating. 2, 2, represent a seriesof cross strips of less cross section than the bars 1, which arereticulated or bent into Wave form so that when assembled with the crestof each bend of one strip abutting against the crest of the bentportionof an adjacent strip they will form a reticulated or woven ormeshlike ed'ect, as shown in Fig. 1. At the end of each section of agrating there is a straight cross. strip 3, of the same cross section asthe strips 2, or approximately the same, which straight cross stripsserve as 1The keys to lock thestrips in their assembled BERsoN, forcposition, as will be hereinafter explained and at the same time formborder pieces or end pieces for that panel of the grating.

Side bars 4, 4, are fastened to the outer ends of all the cross strips 2and 3, in any convenient manner and complete the panel frame. The formof fastening may be projecting tongue 7, shown in Fig. 3, which pass lthrough holes or slots in the side bars 1, 4, and have their outer endsupset or other wise prevented from Withdrawal.

lin order to properly assemble the parts andproduce a grating havin asurface all .4 in one plane, the longitudina bars 1, 1, are l notched atequidistant points, as indicated at 8, 8, to a uniform depth.lllreferably these notches are under-cutv so as to form an overhangingprojection 9, 9, on one wall of the notch. The under-cut portion andyoverhanging projection should be on the same side of all notches 8.These notches are of such a depth than when the crest of the bentportion of each cross strip 2, is placed in its corresponding notch, theupper edges of the crossstrips 2, and the longitudinal bars 1, will allcome in the same j plane. It is evident that every other crest of a bentportion of each cross strip 2, must have a notch 6, cut in its upperedge to accommodate the overhanging projection 9,

on the notch in the bar 1. Preferably also each crest of a bent portionof each'- cross strip 2, has a notch 5, on its lower edge which willmesh with or grasp the bottom of the notches 8, in the bars 1. 1nassembling the parts, the bars 1, are'placed parallel one to another andproperly spaced, and a cross strip 2, is dropped into the correspondingnotches'8, the crest of the bent portion provided with the upper notches6, 6, being slipped under the projection 9, on the under-cut wall of thenotch 8, with which it engages. Then a second cross strip 2, is placedin position, the crests of the bent portions of this second strip notprovided with upper notches 6, dropping into the vided with uppernotches 6. Thus e second cross strip locks in position the first crossstrip. 1n the same way a third strip will lock the second and so onthroughout .the panel. The panel is then completed by dropping intoposition the key cross strips 3, 3, and fastening the side bars 4, 4,-tothe outer ends of all thecross strips.

Preferably the cross strips are made of a uniform depth which depth isconsiderably less than the depth of the girder-like longitudinal bars l,l, but this proportion of the parts may be departed from.

The main advantage of the invention lies in the diagonal bracing actionof the porions of the cross strips 2, 2, which run'diagonally of eachpanel of the grating. These strips being tied to the longitudinal hars1, l, by the notches 6,- 6, engaging the projections 9, 9, any diagonaldistortion of the panel is impossible without rupturing the material. Ifthe under notches 5, 5, are also employed-*they further reinforce thisdiagonal bracing action. Other advantages are the lightness of theconstruction combined with rigidity, the absence of any necessity forthe costly process of riveting or similar steps in fastening the partsof the grating together and the even distribution of the bearingsurfaces of the cross strips and longitudinal bars over the surface ofeach panel 0f the grating.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A grating for sidewalks and floors having in" combination a series ofsubstantially straight supporting bars extending substantially paralleleach to the other and notched at intervals on their upper edges, and aseries of uniformly bent or reticulated cross strips notched on theirunder` edges, the notched portions of the bars and strips beingintermeshed and provided with means for positively fastenin themtogether at each intersection, at which a notched portion vof a barengages the notched portion f two strips. l

2. A grating such as is described in claim l which has. the notches inthe bars and strips of such depth that when they are completely in mesh,one set of edges of all the strips shall be in the same plane as are oneset of edges of all the bars.

3. A grating such as is described in claim 1 combined with a straightcross strip at either end thereof fitting into the end notches in thebars to lock therein the single reticulated cross strip resting in saidend notches.

4. A grating such as is described in claim l combined with straightcross strips at either en d thereof fitting into the end notches in thebars to lock therein the single reticulated cross strip resting in saidend notches, and with straight side bars to which the extremities of allcross strips are fastened.

5. A grating for structural purposes which comprises the combination ofa series of substantially straight bars extending parallel I projectingbent portions of the cross strips together so that a portion with asingle notch abuts against a portion with two notches while the notchesin their under edges register one with another and mesh with a notch inone of the straight bars and the upper notch in one of the strips mesheswith the overhanging projection of the undercut side of the notch in thebar.

6. A grating for structural purposes which comprises the combination ofa series of substantially straight bars extending parallel each to theothers and notched in their upper edges at equidistant points, each setof notches-in the alternate bars being in the same straight lineextending at right angles to ythe bars but out of line with all thenotches in the other bars, and all said notches being under-cut on oneside, together with a series of uniformly bent or rcticulated crossstrips which are notched on their upper edges at the crest of eachalternate bent portion, the aforesaid parts being assembled by placingthe oppositely projecting bent portions of the cross strips together sothat each portion with an upper notch abuts against a portion withoutany notch in its upper edge, said pair of abutting strip portions beinginserted in a notch of a supporting bar, the upper notch in one of thestrips meshing with the overhanging projection of the under-cut side ofthe notch in the bar.l

NATHAN BERSON. Witnesses:

WALTER E. IRvING, PAUL L. PRICE.

